2016 Business PhD Applicant Chat Thread

[Foreveronward]

Hey all,

I know we're few and far between, but I wanted a place for Business PhD hopefuls to chat about the process before applications are due in Dec/Jan. 

I'm applying to Management and Organizational Behavior programs at about 10 schools. I'm currently an I/O Psych M.S. student. Looking forward to hearing from you all and commiserating with you. 

[eshardlow]

Hey, sorry you haven't had any responses yet.  I'm also applying to OB programs.  I'm currently an MBA student. 

Good luck!

Ed

[mac13]

I'm not sure if this is the correct thread to put this on (sorry I am new to the site), but I was hoping to get a little feedback from anyone who might have insight. I am looking into MBA programs but my GPA is low (2.8). My degree is in biochemistry from a well known liberal arts college and I have since spend 2 years doing full time pre-clinical research. I thought I wanted to do a PhD and pursue a career in academia but my most recent fellowship highlighted how few jobs there are right now and how long of a road to get there. My GRE is 163(Q), 157(V), 6(AW). I also have two years experience as an administrative assistant to the vice president of finance and planning at my college.

Though it is a bit personal it might also be useful to know that my GPA is low due to the onset of a big health issue the summer before college (progressive disorder) that lead to significant disability and the only medication option lead to cognitive deficits. I went off all medications a third of the way through my senior year and as a result my GPA that final semester was MUCH better. If had gone off the medication earlier I would've had an upward trend but I wasn't able to. Currently my health is greatly improved and no awful medication. Further validation of this issue and its cause comes from the first GRE score I received (while taking the medication) which was 150(V), 150(Q), 3.0(AW); so I more than doubled my quant and writing percentile ranking. 

Thank you for any input!! :]]

[MarkMc]

Mac - where are you from?  The GPA will be a challenge.  Your GRE converts into a nice GMAT score.  I'd recommend you take a look at schools that would be in reach.  Talk to the Director of Admissions for programs you like.  Get their input. Some are very accessible.  You may have to start as a non-matric or come in on probation, but I can't imagine that it is out of reach.

[mrfetzer]

Hi all! glad to see others are sweating it out waiting like I am. I applied to the following schools: 

Stanford WTO program

Boston College

Penn State

Michigan

UT Austin

WashU

Georgia Tech

I got an interview invite to Boston College yesterday, it's a fly out interview in later Feb. I'm anxiously waiting for other news. . . .

[eternallyephemeral]

Hey everyone!

I applied to management/OB/Organizational studies at these places:

 

Rotman (university of Toronto)

Schulich (York university, Canada)

NYU Stern

Michigan Ross

UCLA Anderson

UC Berkeley Haas

 

I've only heard from Schulich so far, I did some interviews as I made the shortlist.

[gparks]

I've applied to Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern, UChicago, Indiana, Boston College, and Carnegie Mellon and haven't heard back from any of them yet.

[eternallyephemeral]

I just heard back from Michigan Ross biz school and I didn't get into the M&O program. They included their evaluation criteria and said they had 500 applicants, and only accepted 5% across all their categories for the business PhD.

 

I'm not mad

[CDF]

@eternallyephemeral - that's interesting.  I also applied to Michigan (strategy) and hadn't heard a peep about an interview by end of Feb, so I assumed I was going to get a reject letter.  But no letter/email yet either.   And you heard two weeks ago?  I'm curious about timing of outreach by faculty at different schools regarding interviews.  I got an interview at Penn State in late-January and they made an offer two weeks later.  Univ of Oregon interviewed me last week and made an offer the next day.  It seems to me that schools would have already contacted you by now if they intended to interview you, but what do I know?  Does anyone know if the strategy departments at UNC or Michigan have released a first wave of rejections yet?  

Edited February 28, 2016 by CDF

[eternallyephemeral]

6 hours ago, CDF said:

@eternallyephemeral - that's interesting.  I also applied to Michigan (strategy) and hadn't heard a peep about an interview by end of Feb, so I assumed I was going to get a reject letter.  But no letter/email yet either.   And you heard two weeks ago?  I'm curious about timing of outreach by faculty at different schools regarding interviews.  I got an interview at Penn State in late-January and they made an offer two weeks later.  Univ of Oregon interviewed me last week and made an offer the next day.  It seems to me that schools would have already contacted you by now if they intended to interview you, but what do I know?  Does anyone know if the strategy departments at UNC or Michigan have released a first wave of rejections yet?  

Very strange - maybe strategy does things differently. Have you seen any results on this site from Michigan strategy? I started seeing a few interviews and acceptances before I got my rejection.

Yes, it was two weeks ago. But each area could be on their own timeline, I'm not sure.

I haven't heard anything at all about UCLA's business school, so I presumed that I was rejected. But things could change.

 

Best of luck!

[eshardlow]

A couple of my friends who applied to Michigan strategy were put on a waitlist. Have you checked the Michigan "friends" website? I saw my rejection decision there about a week before I got an email. I wonder if the strategy folks aren't going to send out emails, opting instead just to post the decisions.

Sounds like that one's not going to work out, but good luck elsewhere!

[jhatput]

Applied to Fisher College of Business PhD in Logistics

Undergrad GPA 3.8 (Also from Fisher College of Business)

7 years work experience as marketing manager of a National Catalog Company. 

740 GMAT (50 Q 41V 5.0AWA 8 IR)

 

Waiting on answers. Called in, heard I was well recieved -whatever that means.